Assets, Yields, IRA Fees Compared

Which Assets iTrustCapital Supports for Staking and What the Current Yields Are

iTrustCapital currently supports staking for two proof-of-stake assets inside its Crypto IRA and Premium Custody Accounts: Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL). Cardano (ADA) staking is listed as coming soon but remains unavailable as of early 2026. The platform also credits rewards on supported stablecoins, including USDC and RLUSD, though those arrangements differ from native proof-of-stake staking and are not the subject of this analysis.

The yields iTrustCapital delivers are net of a 22% service fee the platform retains from your staking rewards. That means you keep 78% of the gross network yield. Ethereum staking yields currently sit between 2.8% and 4.0% APY at the network level, compressed from the 5.2% headline yields available in 2023 as the validator set expanded and issuance per validator fell. Solana native yields range from 5% to 8% APY depending on validator performance and network participation, though Solana’s inflation schedule is gradually declining from 8% toward a long-term 1.5% target, which will compress nominal yields further over the next several years.

After iTrustCapital’s 22% fee, the effective yields you receive are approximately 2.2% to 3.1% APY for Ethereum and 3.9% to 6.2% APY for Solana. Those are the numbers you should compare against self-custody staking alternatives and taxable staking on centralized exchanges when deciding whether the IRA wrapper is worth the cost.

Rewards accrue immediately after you stake your assets and are paid out in the same token, but they are not automatically restaked. iTrustCapital pays rewards only when you unstake your assets, which means there is no automatic compounding. If you want to compound your staking returns inside the IRA, you must manually unstake, collect the rewards, and then restake the combined amount. That manual step matters for anyone comparing iTrustCapital to liquid staking protocols like Lido or Rocket Pool, where compounding happens passively without user intervention.

How iTrustCapital’s Fee Structure Compares to Self-Custody and Exchange Staking

The 22% fee iTrustCapital retains from your staking rewards is higher than most self-custody staking arrangements but lower than many centralized exchange commissions once you account for the tax treatment. To understand whether that fee is justified, you need to compare the net yield you receive inside the IRA against what you would keep after taxes in a taxable account.

Self-custody staking through a solo validator incurs no commission, but it requires technical expertise, hardware, and uptime management. Delegated staking through validators or liquid staking protocols typically charges 5% to 10% in validator commissions, yielding effective net returns of around 3.2% to 3.5% for Ethereum. Centralized exchanges like Kraken, Coinbase, and Binance charge staking commissions between 15% and 35%, which leaves you with net yields of approximately 2.3% to 2.6% for Ethereum after fees.

The critical difference is tax treatment. In a standard taxable account, staking rewards are treated as ordinary income by the IRS and taxed at your marginal rate in the year they are received. If your marginal tax rate is 24%, for example, a 3.5% gross yield from self-custody staking nets you about 2.7% after taxes. A 3.1% net yield from iTrustCapital inside a Traditional IRA defers that tax until withdrawal in retirement, when your marginal rate may be lower. A Roth IRA eliminates the tax entirely if you hold until age 59½ and meet the five-year rule.

The trade-off becomes clear when you calculate the breakeven. If your marginal tax rate exceeds 22%, the tax deferral inside iTrustCapital’s IRA structure can offset the platform’s fee retention, particularly over multi-decade horizons where compounding magnifies the benefit of avoiding annual tax drag. If your marginal rate is below 22%, or if you plan to withdraw within a few years, the fee retention costs more than the tax benefit you gain.

iTrustCapital charges a 1% transaction fee on buys and sells, which applies when you initially purchase ETH or SOL to stake and again when you sell after unstaking. There are no monthly or annual account fees, no setup fees, and no transfer fees for in-kind distributions to a personal wallet. The bid-ask spread on executions is typically under 0.20% for major assets like Ethereum and Solana, which is competitive with most retail exchanges.

Lock-Up Periods, Liquidity Restrictions, and When You Can Access Staked Funds

Staked assets on iTrustCapital remain locked until the network’s unbonding process completes. For Solana, that unbonding period is approximately two days. For Ethereum, the unbonding period depends on the exit queue length and can range from three to seven days under normal conditions, though periods of high validator exit demand can extend that window. You cannot buy, sell, or transfer your tokens while they are staked, which means liquidity is frozen until unbonding finishes.

This is a meaningful constraint for anyone who may need to rebalance or exit a position quickly. Liquid staking tokens like Lido’s stETH or Rocket Pool’s rETH solve this problem by issuing a tradable receipt token that represents your staked position, allowing you to sell or use the token in DeFi without waiting for unbonding. iTrustCapital does not offer liquid staking derivatives, which means once you commit to staking, you must wait for the full unbonding period to regain access to your principal.

Because rewards are paid only when you unstake, rather than accruing in a separate tradable balance, you face a choice: leave your position staked to continue earning, or unstake periodically to collect rewards and manually restake if you want to compound. That creates friction for long-term compounding strategies compared to protocols that auto-compound or issue a balance-increasing liquid staking token.

In-kind distributions to a personal wallet take three to seven business days and require live personal verification. There is no iTrustCapital fee for the transfer itself, though standard IRA withdrawal rules apply. If you withdraw before age 59½, you will owe a 10% early withdrawal penalty plus ordinary income tax on the distribution if it is from a Traditional IRA. Roth IRA contributions can be withdrawn at any time without penalty, but earnings are subject to the same age and five-year holding requirements as Traditional IRAs.

Tax Treatment: Traditional IRA Deferral, Roth Growth, and the UBIT Question

The primary reason to stake inside an IRA wrapper is tax deferral or tax elimination, depending on whether you use a Traditional or Roth structure. In a Traditional IRA, staking rewards are not taxed in the year they accrue. Instead, the entire account balance is taxed as ordinary income when you take qualified distributions in retirement. That defers the tax liability and allows the full gross return to compound without annual tax drag.

In a Roth IRA, contributions are made with after-tax dollars, but all earnings, including staking rewards, grow tax-free and can be withdrawn tax-free after age 59½ if you have held the account for at least five years. For a long-term holder who expects staking yields to compound over 20 or 30 years, the Roth structure eliminates the entire tax liability on decades of rewards, which is a considerable advantage over taxable staking accounts where every reward payment triggers an ordinary income tax event.

The question that remains unsettled is whether staking inside an IRA could trigger Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT). UBIT applies to retirement accounts that earn income from an active trade or business, as opposed to passive investment income. Passive staking through a custodian-controlled platform like iTrustCapital is generally treated as investment income under IRC Section 512(b) and excluded from UBIT. However, if an IRA were operating as an active validator node, running validator software, maintaining uptime, and earning rewards as compensation for services performed, the IRS could argue that the income represents active business income subject to UBIT.

iTrustCapital uses Figment, a widely regarded institutional staking provider, to operate validators on behalf of custody accounts. That structure positions your staking activity as passive delegation to a third-party service provider, not as an active validator operation. Based on the current state of IRS guidance, passive custodial staking should not trigger UBIT. That said, the IRS has not issued definitive guidance on staking specifically, and the question remains open for interpretation. If you are staking substantial amounts or your IRA account operates in any capacity that resembles active validator management, consult a tax professional familiar with UBIT before assuming the income is exempt.

For most iTrustCapital users staking ETH or SOL through the platform’s standard custody arrangement, the UBIT risk appears low. The tax advantage comes from deferral or elimination of ordinary income tax on the rewards themselves, not from any special treatment of the staking mechanism.

When the IRA Wrapper Is Worth the Cost and When It Is Not

The decision to stake inside iTrustCapital’s IRA structure comes down to three variables: your marginal tax rate, your time horizon, and your willingness to accept lower net yields in exchange for tax deferral or elimination.

If your marginal federal tax rate is 24% or higher, the tax deferral inside a Traditional IRA or the tax elimination inside a Roth IRA can offset iTrustCapital’s 22% fee retention, particularly over multi-decade holding periods. If you are in the 32% or 37% bracket, the tax benefit is unambiguous. You keep more after taxes inside the IRA than you would staking the same assets in a taxable account, even after accounting for iTrustCapital’s fee.

If your marginal rate is 12% or lower, the IRA wrapper costs more than it saves. You would be better off staking through a low-fee exchange or self-custody validator and paying the annual tax on rewards at your lower rate. The breakeven sits somewhere between 22% and 24%, depending on your state tax rate and the specific yield you earn.

Time horizon matters because tax deferral compounds. A single year of deferral saves you the tax on one year of rewards. Thirty years of deferral allows three decades of rewards to compound without any tax drag, which can double or triple the terminal value of your staking position compared to a taxable account. If you plan to withdraw within five years, the compounding benefit is minimal and unlikely to justify iTrustCapital’s fee. If you plan to hold until retirement, the benefit grows with each additional year of deferral.

Liquidity matters. If you need the flexibility to rebalance, exit positions quickly, or use staked assets as collateral in DeFi, iTrustCapital’s structure is too rigid. The absence of liquid staking derivatives, the manual reward collection process, and the unbonding delays all work against active portfolio management. If you are building a long-term, set-and-forget staking position inside a tax-deferred retirement account, those constraints are acceptable. If you are managing a yield portfolio that requires frequent rebalancing, they are not.

One additional consideration: iTrustCapital’s asset selection is limited. If you want to stake Cardano, Polkadot, Cosmos, or any proof-of-stake asset outside of Ethereum and Solana, you will need to wait for iTrustCapital to add support or use a different custodian. Bitcoin IRA supports Cardano staking inside tax-advantaged accounts, though recent fee data for that platform’s staking service is not publicly available.

The Takeaway

iTrustCapital’s staking service delivers net yields of 2.2% to 3.1% for Ethereum and 3.9% to 6.2% for Solana after the platform’s 22% fee retention. The tax deferral benefit inside a Traditional IRA or the tax elimination inside a Roth IRA offsets that fee only if your marginal tax rate exceeds 22% and you hold for at least a decade. For investors in the 24%, 32%, or 37% federal brackets with multi-decade time horizons, the structure works. For investors in lower brackets, or those who need liquidity or want to compound passively, the fee retention costs more than the tax benefit delivers. The absence of automatic compounding, the manual reward collection process, and the limited asset selection all constrain the appeal of iTrustCapital’s staking offering compared to liquid staking protocols or self-custody arrangements. If your goal is to build a long-term, tax-advantaged staking position in Ethereum or Solana and you are willing to accept lower net yields in exchange for deferral or elimination of ordinary income tax, iTrustCapital’s IRA wrapper is a workable structure. If your goal is to maximize yield, maintain liquidity, or stake assets outside of ETH and SOL, the platform’s constraints outweigh its tax advantages.

Frequently Asked Questions

What assets can I stake inside iTrustCapital’s IRA?

iTrustCapital currently supports staking for Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) inside both Crypto IRAs and Premium Custody Accounts. Cardano (ADA) staking is listed as coming soon but is not yet available. The platform also credits rewards on supported stablecoins including USDC and RLUSD, though those arrangements differ from native proof-of-stake staking. No other proof-of-stake assets are supported for staking as of early 2026.

How much does iTrustCapital charge for staking?

iTrustCapital retains 22% of all staking rewards as a service fee, meaning you keep 78% of the gross network yield. There are no monthly or annual account fees, no setup fees, and no transfer fees for in-kind distributions to a personal wallet. The platform also charges a 1% transaction fee on buys and sells, which applies when you purchase assets to stake and when you sell after unstaking. Bid-ask spreads on major assets like ETH and SOL typically run under 0.20%.

Are staking rewards automatically reinvested?

No. Staking rewards on iTrustCapital are not automatically restaked. Rewards accrue immediately after you stake your assets but are paid out only when you unstake. If you want to compound your staking returns inside the IRA, you must manually unstake, collect the rewards, and then restake the combined amount. This manual process differs from liquid staking protocols like Lido or Rocket Pool, where compounding happens passively without user intervention.

Does staking inside an IRA trigger UBIT?

Passive staking through a custodian-controlled platform like iTrustCapital is generally treated as investment income under IRC Section 512(b) and excluded from Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT). iTrustCapital uses Figment validators to operate staking on behalf of custody accounts, which positions the activity as passive delegation to a third-party service provider. However, the IRS has not issued definitive guidance on staking specifically, and the question remains open for interpretation. For most standard custody arrangements, UBIT risk appears low, but consult a tax professional if you are staking substantial amounts.

How long does it take to unstake and withdraw assets?

Staked assets remain locked until the network’s unbonding process completes. For Solana, unbonding takes approximately two days. For Ethereum, unbonding ranges from three to seven days under normal conditions, though high validator exit demand can extend that window. In-kind distributions to a personal wallet take an additional three to seven business days and require live personal verification. You cannot buy, sell, or transfer tokens while they are staked, which means liquidity is frozen until unbonding finishes.